Accordion.



J. GALLEAZZI.

Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

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APPLICATION FILED SEFT` 13, 1911.

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J. GALLEAZZI.

AGGORDION.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911. 1,050,270, Patented Jan. 14,1913.

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AGCORDION.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911.

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J. GALLEAZZI.

AGCORDION.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911.

1,050,270. l Patented Jan.14,1913.

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J p l D J L I WITNESSES INVENTOFI J. GALLEAZZI.

AGGORDION.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 13, 1911. 1,050,270. Patented Jan. 14, 1913.

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WITNESSES INVENTOR UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH GALLEAZZI, 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

.ACCORDION.

To all whom i may concern:

Be it known that I` JOSEPH GALLEAZZI, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Accordions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of musical instruments, including accordions, in which, by the pressure of a single piston or key, there vare sounded several musical notes harmonizing with each other to produce a musical chord, as, for instance, the major or minor chord, the dominant seventh or the diminished seventh chords.

The object of the present invention is to provide an accordion having such an arrangement of keys or pistons as to greatly Jfacilitate the operation of playing quickly in succession a large number of such chords.

A further object is to provide an accordion in which the mechanism for. playing such chords shall be simple, strong, durable, and not liable to get out of order.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a plan view of the bass sounding board, showing also the key board, parts being removed, of an accordion constructed in accordancewith my invention; Fig. 2 is a similar view, the key board and upper portions of the apparatus being omitted; Fig. 8 is a similar view showing only the valves on said sounding board; Fig. 4 is a broken similar view showing rock shafts for producing chords, and showing in relation thereto a diagram of the chords so produced; Fig. 5 is a side viewk showing the relation of the keys; Fig. 6 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 4; Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the arrangement of keys and chords produced thereby; Fig. 8 is a transverse section of the sounding board and the key board on the line 8-8 of Fig. 2; Fig. 9 is a similar view the parts being in a different position; Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a portion of the sounding board and a valve thereon; Fig. 11 is a similar view of a valve; Fig. 12 is a similar view of a lever.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates the outer case of an accordion, 'closed at one side by a sounding board 2, at which side is also attached the accordion bellows not here shown. In said sounding board are formed valve openings 3, 4, controlled by valves 29, 30, in themanner hereinafter de- Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Application led September 13, 1911.

Patented J an. 14,1913.

Serial No. 649,110.

scribed,said openings leading to reeds,which are here omitted as being of the usual construction and forming no part of my present invention. The opposite side of the case is closed by the usual perforated cover, not here shown, provided with means by which it can be supported upon the arm of the operator. In the upper side 10 of said sound case are arranged rows of keys or pistons 11, movable in holes formed in said side 10 and connected at their inner ends to rods 12, the inner ends of which are iiattened and pivotally connected to the ends of arms 13 of bell crank levers 9, which arms move in slots 14 cut in frame pieces 15 extending longitudinally within the case and their ends being secured on standards 16, which in turn are secured upon the outer side of the sounding board. Stop pieces 17 are secured by brackets 18 to the frame pieces, against which stop pieces the edges of said arms are adapted to abut. Said stop pieces thus limit the outward movement of said arms and of the keys or pistons. The lower arms of said bell crank levers 9 are bent at right angles downwardly, and carry at their extremities transverse pins 19, 20, which pass beneath rocking arms 21, 22, extending from longitudinal rock shafts 23, 24, the ends of said rock shafts being pivotally supported in said standards 16. These shafts are arranged in two series of twelve each. The shafts 28, nearer the pistons or keys 11, are adapted to be rocked by the keys or pistons 11 of the two rows most distant from the hand of the operator, and the shafts 24 by those of the four nearer rows. From said rock shafts 23, 24, extend arms 25, 26, which pass respectively through apertures 27, in lugs 28, cut out from and extending upwardly from the valves 29, 30 pivotally attached to the sounding board by two screws 31, loosely passing through holes 32 in said valves, said valves thus being each enabled to rock upon said screws as on a pivotal axis. The under sides of said valves are covered with felt or other suitable material, which also closes the apertures made by forming the lugs 28. Said valves close the openings 3, 4, in the sounding board, but when the pistons 11 are depressed, the corresponding valves are raised in the manner already explained and air is enabled to pass through said valve openings, thus causing vibration of the corresponding reeds, and producing musical tones. When the pressure is removed from the pistons, the valves are closed by springs 3st, 35, of which each spring 34 presses upwardly an arm 36 extending` from the corresponding valve 29 beyond its pivotal axis, and each spring presses directly down on the corresponding valve 30.

There are 1S keys in each of the two rows of keys or pistons 11 which actuate the shafts 23, or 3G keys in all. This permits the key corresponding to each musical note, of which there are twelve in au octave, to be repeated three times. That is, for actuating the same rock shaft 23, there are provided three separate keys, and these keys are located at positions on the key board remote from each other. Thus the player is able, in all positions of his hand, to press one or the other of these three keys easily and rapidly to operate the corresponding` rock shaft 23 to produce the tone desired. On depressing any one of the keys of the other four rows, no-t only is the shaft 24. rocked which causes a vibration producing any single musical note, but also other shafts are simultaneously rocked and other musical notes are produced. Thus, upon depressing any one of the keys in the lowermost row of the four, or the third from the bottom of all the rows, shafts 2% are rocked which open valves 30 to cause notes to be produced which form the major chord of a musical note. On depressing a key in the fourth row from the bottom, musical tones are produced which form the minor chord of a note. On depressing one of the keys in the second row from the top the dominant seventh chord of a note is produced. On depressing a key in the uppermost row, the diminished seventh chord of a note is produced. This result is effected by the following mechanism. The transversely extending pins 20, before mentioned, are each sufficiently long to extend, not only under the arm 22 corresponding to t-he shaft 24C which opens the corresponding valve 30, but also under the arms 22 connected to other shafts 24T. Thus, if a key be depressed which is in the lowermost of the four rows, as, for instance, that corresponding to the note C, notI only is the valve opened which controls the production of the note C but also the valves which control the production of the not-es E and Gr, so as to produce the maj or chord of the key of C.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 4t and 5, and to Fig. 6 which is an enlarged plan view of that part of Fig. 4 which illustrates mechanism corresponding t-o the musical note C, if the key corresponding to this note be depressed in the major scale row, that is, the fourth row from the outside, the hell crank lever 9 is actuated which lies on the extreme left, and from which extends a pin 2() entirely to the right, which pin then passes in order under the arms 22 attached to the shafts 24 which open the valves which produce the tones of the notes E, G and C, and no others, so that the major chord of the key of C is produced. Tf now the key corresponding to the same note be deF pressed in the minor chord row, that is, the third row from the outside, the next bell crank lever to the right is then actuated, and it will be seen that a pin 20 extends from this bell crank lever entirely to the right, and under, in order to the right, the arms attached to the rock shafts corresponding to the notes C, G and D sharp, so that the minor chord of the key of C is prof duced. If the corresponding key in the second row from the outside, or the row of the dominant seventh, be depressed, then the third bell crank lever in order to the right is actuated, from which bell crank lever there extends a transverse pin 2O both to the left and to the right, passing in order, commencing on the left, beneath the arms attached to the rock shafts which produce the notes A sharp, E, G, and C, giving the chord of the dominant seventh. Finally if the corresponding key of the outside row, the row of the diminished seventh, be depressed,

then the bell crank lever on the right is actuated, and a pin 20 extends therefrom passing in order, from left to right, beneath the arms attached to the rock shafts which open the valves which control the production of the notes C, D sharp and A, giving the chord of the diminished seventh. This arrangement is also indicated by the diagram shown in the upper part of Fig. 4, in which the notes, the production of which is controlled by the depression of a corresponding key in the four rows, are indicated by the names of said notes within circles 38 which are connected together by lines 39.

The arm 36 of each valve 29 extends over one end of a lever 4l secured to a sleeve 4t2 on a longitudinal shaft 4:3, the other end of which lever 4:1 passes beneath an extension 40 on the corresponding valve 30, the result of which is that, if any key in the two innermost rows is depressed, not only is the corresponding valve 29 opened, but also the valve 30, thus causing notes from the corresponding reeds to be sounded and reinforcing the original tones.

I claim l. In an accordion or the like, the combination of a sounding board having openings, valves for closing said openings, a plurality of parallel rock shafts, one for each valve, an operative connect-ion between each rock shaft and its corresponding valve whereby the rocking of the shaft opens said valve, arms extending from each rock shaft, levers operatively connected to the respective arms, and keys operatively connected to the respective levers.

2. In an accordion or the like, the combination of a sounding board having openings therein, valves for closing said openings, rock shafts for the respective valves, operative connections between said rock shafts and valves, whereby the rocking of each shaft actuates the corresponding valve, arms eX- tending from each rock shaft, bell crank levers corresponding to said arms, operative connections between said bell crank levers and the respective arms, whereby each arm can move independently of the bell crank lever, but the movement of the bell crank lever correspondingly moves the arm, keys, and operative connections from the keys to the bell crank levers.

3. In an accordion or the like, the combination of a sounding board, two rows of openings therein, two rows of valves arranged to close the respective openings, a longitudinal shaft between the two rows of valves, levers pivoted on said shaft corresponding to the respective valves of the two rows, each valve of one row being operatively connected with the corresponding lever to move the same when the valve is opened and said lever being operatively connected with the corresponding valve of the other row, to open the same when so moved.

4f. In an accordion or the like, the combination of a sounding board having openings, valves for closing said openings, rock shafts corresponding to the respective valves, operative connections between said rock shafts and their respective valves, keys, levers operatively connected to said keys, arms eX- tending from the respect-ive rock shafts, and a pin extending laterally from each lever and adapted to engage a plurality of such arms to simultaneously rock a plurality of such shafts.

In testimony whereof l have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

JOSEPH GALLEAZZI.

Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

